Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Sharrontology Wants to Drain Our Economic Lifeblood?

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. has endorsed Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, saying it would be a mistake for Nevadans to elect Republican Sharron Angle and lose Reid's clout to protect the state's lifeblood gambling industry.

Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, suggested Angle should distance herself from the anti-gambling Campaign for Working Families, which has endorsed her and begun running television advertisements attacking Reid.

The political action committee's founder and chairman is Gary Bauer, a former Republican presidential candidate affiliated with several Christian right groups over the years.

"It's disturbing that she (Angle) is taking money from people who oppose gambling," Fahrenkopf told The Associated Press. "She may not even know it, but Gary Bauer has been a longtime, outspoken opponent of legalized gambling. I did a double-take when I read she was receiving assistance from someone who has opposed Nevada's chief industry for so long."

So let's recap this. Sharron Angle is being supported by Gary Bauer's PAC, which OPPOSES legalized casino gaming. So she's happily being supported by an extreme religious right group that wants to shut down the lifeblood of our economy? WTF??!!

No wonder why even sane Republicans, especially those in the gaming industry, are rejecting her dangerous extremism.

Fahrenkopf said Nevadans need Reid's power to protect an industry that has been hard bit by the recession and likely will be tapped as a revenue source to deal with the budget deficit. Reid is the most knowledgeable member of Congress about gambling issues, Fahrenkopf said, and has the ability to control what bills reach the floor for votes as Senate majority leader.

The leisure and hospitality industry, which includes hotel-casinos, is Nevada's largest employer, accounting for 304,300 jobs statewide.

"We just can't take any more assaults on us tax-wise or otherwise," Fahrenkopf said. "We need someone strong to protect the state and the industry. No freshman senator would have clout. To trade the most powerful position in the Senate for a freshman senator doesn't make sense."

MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren, a Republican, agreed.

"For a small state like Nevada to have the most powerful person in the Senate is not something we should be willing to let go," he said in a statement. "Simply put: Harry Reid is a better choice for Nevada's future. He has far more experience and can wield far more authority and influence on our behalf than any freshman senator."

So we have someone who's worked hard to promote and protect the best interests of our state... And we have someone who's nothing but a tool of outside forces that essentially want to shut down our state. The choice can't be clearer.

Why on earth would we want to lose our biggest advocate? And instead get someone "representing us" who actually wants to destroy our economy? Sharron Angle just doesn't get it...
Yet again...